@Mercuito. I appreciate the points made in your last para but just wondering how overseas sites can feed faster traffic if I was on UFB 100/50 instead of 30/10? Aren't we totally dependent on the feeds from overseas?

I thought it would be more realistic to send files to the cloud with a 9Mbps upstream speed but a 200MB file sent to Skydrive still took 6m 50s (3.7Mbps). Maybe that's reasonable and to be expected. It still, surely, has to be much better than via a 0.6Mbps connection!

linw: just wondering how overseas sites can feed faster traffic if I was on UFB 100/50 instead of 30/10? Aren't we totally dependent on the feeds from overseas?

Me too.

A reset on the line has resolved some of the dire speed issues but still convinced the speeds are way slower than Telecom. So with all the comparisons to highways, Ferraris etc would that mean that even on a 100/50 plan international speeds would be better?

If that's the case, are you telling me that 100/50 traffic is handled differently to 30/10 traffic?

Hi Guys, new to UFB today Orcon 30/10 in Dunedin CBD. The performance is downright shocking. Somewhat acceptable local but international is WAY slower than my ADSL. My ADSL to New York could hit 7.5 and Orcon fibre I can't break 2mbit to New York. UK is even more horrible I can't even break 700kbsec to the UK. I have a support ticket to Orcon now but this makes me extremely nervous as my biz needs a decent US connection. I am also tied to Orcon for an 18 month contract. If they can't sort this out maybe consumer guarantees act can get me out of the contract. I will give it some time, but so far shockingly disappointed and hoping there is a glitch somewhere. I had much much better performance on my ADSL. A mate 3 doors down got 100/50 plan and his isn't much better. Fingers crossed I get somewhere. I had expected at least 15mbit international which is half of the sales pitch they give you (not unreasonable imo). Here is my test I ran for Orcon, surely something is wrong??

linw: @Mercuito. I appreciate the points made in your last para but just wondering how overseas sites can feed faster traffic if I was on UFB 100/50 instead of 30/10? Aren't we totally dependent on the feeds from overseas?

I thought it would be more realistic to send files to the cloud with a 9Mbps upstream speed but a 200MB file sent to Skydrive still took 6m 50s (3.7Mbps). Maybe that's reasonable and to be expected. It still, surely, has to be much better than via a 0.6Mbps connection!

Cheers and sorry if I have hijacked your thread, tchart.

Normally on the internet most transit links are gigabit or faster. When an overseas site sends you data, how does it know how fast to send it to you?

Well generally speaking, there are two ways - one packet drops, and two delay between packets. The problem is that on a fast link like fibre the delay between packets can lead the other end to overestimate your connection speed and send to fast to you and drop packets. When packets are dropped the speed can plummet quickly, and then come up to speed again, but can lead to a slower speed than if the packets were merely delayed.

Depending on the system being used to drop packets, speeds can vary. But on further thought - Orcon from my understanding half intelligent systems in the middle which could alleviate some of these issues to some degree.

One thing to try is setting your ethernet link speed to 100 megabit if using a gigabit connection to the network. But it's hard to limit the speed to 30 megabit smoothly, as you can't just set your wan interface to 30 megabit as easily. (and serialise traffic)

We're not just dependent on the feeds overseas, but the connection from the point overseas that the connections terminate, to the final destination.

Like I've got virtual machine hosted in Los Angeles, and virtual machine hosted in Amsterdam. They both have gigabit connections to the network, but doing a test just now I get 7 megabytes/sec on a single connection.

That said 3.7 megabit/sec does seem kind of slow.

It's quite common to not get even 100 megabit/sec between countries over cheap transit providers. And destination web sites can vary depending on whether it's on-net traffic or off-net (ie if the destination site peers with the transit provider your isp uses). Most NZ ISP's are using Cogent or Hurricane Electric for the bulk of the traffic. Both of which are low-cost providers. And SkyDrive isn't likely to have capacity directly through them. Although hopefully they're peering with Orcon in Los Angeles :)

Adappted: Hi Guys, new to UFB today Orcon 30/10 in Dunedin CBD. The performance is downright shocking. Somewhat acceptable local but international is WAY slower than my ADSL. My ADSL to New York could hit 7.5 and Orcon fibre I can't break 2mbit to New York. UK is even more horrible I can't even break 700kbsec to the UK. I have a support ticket to Orcon now but this makes me extremely nervous as my biz needs a decent US connection. I am also tied to Orcon for an 18 month contract. If they can't sort this out maybe consumer guarantees act can get me out of the contract. I will give it some time, but so far shockingly disappointed and hoping there is a glitch somewhere. I had much much better performance on my ADSL. A mate 3 doors down got 100/50 plan and his isn't much better. Fingers crossed I get somewhere. I had expected at least 15mbit international which is half of the sales pitch they give you (not unreasonable imo). Here is my test I ran for Orcon, surely something is wrong??

Speedtest Results:-

Auckland,NZ: 6024 / 4040 (30ms)

Wellington, NZ: 6668 / 4316 (32ms)

Sydney, AU: 4147 / 5008 (56ms)

San Francisco, CA: 1098 / 1987 (207ms)

Maidenhead, UK: 680 / 1234 (334ms)

New York really isn't the best place to test right now, hurricane and all. UK performance through some providers took a hit at the same time, as most routes go via New York, and Hurricane Electric at least had significant packet loss.

That said, the fact that you're even getting shocking performance nationally leads to believe that something is very wrong. I'd suggest logging a fault through official channels.

Orcon generally has pretty good international speeds, and I wouldn't think that 15 megabit international is unrealistic when things are working properly, at least off-peak.

Adappted: Hi Guys, new to UFB today Orcon 30/10 in Dunedin CBD. The performance is downright shocking. Somewhat acceptable local but international is WAY slower than my ADSL. My ADSL to New York could hit 7.5 and Orcon fibre I can't break 2mbit to New York. UK is even more horrible I can't even break 700kbsec to the UK. I have a support ticket to Orcon now but this makes me extremely nervous as my biz needs a decent US connection. I am also tied to Orcon for an 18 month contract. If they can't sort this out maybe consumer guarantees act can get me out of the contract. I will give it some time, but so far shockingly disappointed and hoping there is a glitch somewhere. I had much much better performance on my ADSL. A mate 3 doors down got 100/50 plan and his isn't much better. Fingers crossed I get somewhere. I had expected at least 15mbit international which is half of the sales pitch they give you (not unreasonable imo). Here is my test I ran for Orcon, surely something is wrong??

Speedtest Results:-

Auckland,NZ: 6024 / 4040 (30ms)

Wellington, NZ: 6668 / 4316 (32ms)

Sydney, AU: 4147 / 5008 (56ms)

San Francisco, CA: 1098 / 1987 (207ms)

Maidenhead, UK: 680 / 1234 (334ms)

New York really isn't the best place to test right now, hurricane and all. UK performance through some providers took a hit at the same time, as most routes go via New York, and Hurricane Electric at least had significant packet loss.

That said, the fact that you're even getting shocking performance nationally leads to believe that something is very wrong. I'd suggest logging a fault through official channels.

Orcon generally has pretty good international speeds, and I wouldn't think that 15 megabit international is unrealistic when things are working properly, at least off-peak.

I have tried a macbook air and windows laptop plugged directly to the genius modem. My house is on a cat6 gbit network as well. Speeds this morning are worse than previously posted, most areas of the US I can't get over 2mbit and further from the US is feeling almost like dialup speeds. I hope it can get sorted as my biz relies on a decent connection. Surely something is simply not right. Thanks for any help!

2mbit faster than yesterday but still abysmal imo. UK speeds have gone from 500kbsec to 1mbit

3 days ago my ADSL was getting 8.9mbit down from Chicago during the same time frame. Still no word from Orcon support yet. Will try keep my cool in hopes this is a glitch that gets worked out, maybe I am somewhat of a guinea pig here as an early adopter. If not then NZ's UFB is basically worse than ADSL, which would be completely ludicrous. Orcon has cut my copper connection today as well so I can't revert back to ASDL if fibre turns out to be a bust.

Things are really going downhill now. I can barely use the internet at all. Latest test to USA:

Eventhough the test indicates a 'usable' speed most sites are stuck loading. No word from Orcon yet, they said they would contact me but not sure the usual time frame for that. Guess I will phone them in the morning.

Don't jump to conclusions and make a huge drama - unless you are a kiwi where it is your job to complain.... UFB is superior to DSL in almost every way as a technology. Sounds more like an issue in the backhaul/handover/Orcon sphere.

Early adopter teething issues for sure. If internet is so important for you then why did you get your copper cut off until you knew the fibre was working properly. Or even get it cut off at all in case the fibre goes out at some point?

Zeon: Don't jump to conclusions and make a huge drama - unless you are a kiwi where it is your job to complain.... UFB is superior to DSL in almost every way as a technology. Sounds more like an issue in the backhaul/handover/Orcon sphere.

Early adopter teething issues for sure. If internet is so important for you then why did you get your copper cut off until you knew the fibre was working properly. Or even get it cut off at all in case the fibre goes out at some point?

Your stats are what I was expecting, I'm sure it will get there as soon as they figure out the issue. I can't really afford to keep the adsl going as well, plus the fibre was going to save me an additional $65 a month plus it's free until 2013. My mate a few doors up is on 100/50 but only getting 20mbit/10mbit range so I figured I would get that as well on 30/10 plan so didn't see much risk, but something is wrong with my connection at this stage.